KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The Chicano Art Festival has announced they are canceling their 10th anniversary festival.
The festival, which takes place in the West Bottoms, celebrates Chicano culture through art, food, music and dance.
Deanna Munoz, the festival founder, announced on Facebook that organizers said they don’t have the funding to continue the festival this year. She said she cannot in good conscience “move forward without the resources needed to create the safe, high-quality experience our community deserves.”
Munoz posted she refuses to put the organization at risk or deliver anything less than what the artists and attendees expect.
“This decision has been one of the hardest I’ve had to make,” Munoz wrote. “For the past 10 years, this festival has been so much more than an event. It has been a celebration of our culture, our artists, our families, our stories, and our community. Together, we’ve created a space where Chicano and Latino artists were seen, valued, and celebrated.”
Munoz said this year’s cancelation isn’t goodbye, but a pause to regroup.
“We will keep creating,” she wrote. “We will keep organizing. We will keep lifting up our artists. Because our culture is worth fighting for.”
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